'Got The Date On The Golden Gate'

Mel Torme
Written by: Mel Torme
Artist: Mel Torme ( With the Mel-Tones and Susan Melton [AKA Peggy Lee] )
From the album: California Suite (Capitol)
Originally released: 1949
Got The Date On the Golden Gate mp3

Notes:
Chicago-born Mel Torme thought that his adopted state needed a musical tribute, as well as a musical response to Gordon Jenkins's "Manhattan Tower." California Suite does the job nicely. The Velvet Fog celebrates 'Fog City' in this story of unrequited love that takes place not on a hill, not on a cable car, but on a bridge - with delightful lyrics that match Lombard Street curve for curve.
(Traveler's advisory: The long gone Papagayo Room mentioned in the song was at the Fairmont Hotel. NBC's Bill Roddy remembers that proprietor Al
Williams served 'the best Mexican food around.')

'California Suite' was Capitol's first twelve-inch LP.
Torme recorded it again for the Bethlehem label in 1957 with Marty Paich.
Both versions are now available on CD: 1949 Version: Jasmine JASCD 365 - called 'California Suite and the Velvet Fog'.
1949 Version: ABM ABMMCD 1125 called 'The West Coast Is The Best Coast.' 1957 Version: Bethlehem Archives R2 75824 called 'Mel Torme's California Suite.' JASCD 365 is called California Suite and the Velvet Fog.
'Got The Gate On The Golden Gate' (1949 version) is also available on
'San Francisco -- With Fond Memories.'

Tony Bennett recorded it on his 1964 album, 'Who Can I Turn To.'


(Lyrics from '57 version)

Do you realize that better than a million people cross the
New York City bridges everyday
The Triborough, the Williamsburg, the Brooklyn Bridge
And there's the great George Washington to send them on their way

Manhattan, Manhattan, the silk and the satin
You see on Park Avenue there
The Uptown, the Downtown
The running-around-town
That all the citizens do there

There is no denying it's exciting
But I know a town that's more inviting.
There have been lots of songs
Written about San Francisco
This is not one of them
Nor do they go the way that this goes

I'm not about to tell you of her hills
Or her cable cars or her many thrills
But instead I thought I would take a chance
And brief you on how she stacks up in romance

Went for a walk one day alone
Down around the Bay
I guess you could say that it was fate
How else could I have met my love on the Golden Gate
She strolled along the Bridge and she
Was the cutest pigeon,
Gee, did ya' never palpitate
Well you'd have swooned to see her there on the Golden Gate

I looked into her eyes and foggy skies were clear
Just when I thought love was here
What a switch
Along came a Cadillac. It stopped
And she got in back
Alas and alack she had a date
I finally found the love I longed for too late
I have no golden got the gate on the Golden Gate
I hung around to see if she would reappear
But no such luck and now it's clear
I'm a goner
Now every day I stroll alone
Down around the Bay
I guess I'll simply chalk it up to fate
And that what happens to you when you don't rate
I have no golden ' got the gate on the Golden gate
I didn't have a penny so I couldn't ask her out for any coffee and
At the Papagayo Room I'm telling this to you so you may understand
That's what happens when you don't rate
I have no gold I got the gate on the Golden gate.